Index Cards and Envelopes - The Manifesto is Nigh! EP002

Good Teams, Bad Outcomes with Martina Ziegenfuss and Jim Elvidge

In this episode, Dave Borzillo shares insights from his book 'Sanity at Scale' on how engineering leaders can shift from heroics to systemic excellence, emphasizing removing waste, visualizing work, and fostering team collaboration.

In this episode, Shalabh Tandon and Shubhada Sahasrabudhe join me to discuss their new book, 'Don't Panic Pivot: Managing Critical Issues to Prevent Crises.' We explore the differences between risks and issues, what makes an issue critical, and why they emphasize a systematic approach to managing crises. The authors introduce their nine-six framework, which includes three whys, nine ingredients, and six steps to effectively address critical issues. They highlight the role of leadership and organizational culture in fostering a proactive environment for issue management. We also dig into the intricacies of crisis management and the importance of building resilience within organizations, maintaining quality, and ensuring transparent communication during crises. You'll hear their tips on how to find balance between discipline and drama in crisis response and how AI can enhance crisis management strategies. The conversation highlights actionable insights for leaders and organizations to navigate crises effectively.

Agile 2026 is almost here! And John Tanner and I will be presenting on Monday, July 27th, at 3:15 PM. Our session is called When AI Starts Doing Your Job: Surviving the PM Identity Crisis. If you are someone who has been struggling with getting out of the gate with AI. If your hesitating because you don’t know how to start, you don’t know what to do with it, it's just too overwhelming, or you can see how it impacts the other roles, but not your own, you are the reason John and I put this session together beause that was me, 8 months ago, moaning about how I didn’t want to be the prompt guy.

I sat down with longtime friend and fellow PMI volunteer Mattias Georgson Petrén to get schooled on Half Double, the Danish hybrid framework that has been around for over ten years but I only just learned about. Mattias walks through where it came from (a frustrated group of practitioners, industrial funding, and research backing from Aarhus University), what it promises — half the time double the impact — and how it blends Agile cadence with the discipline of traditional, stage-based product management. We get into co-location, the 50% staffing rule, and why he treats Half Double as a lens layered on top of existing frameworks rather than a replacement for any of them. We close out with a conversation about where project managers fit into an AI-driven future that left me probably less worried than I've been about this in months.